'Case of the missing goalpost holes' | Manawatu-Wanganui Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Manawatu-Wanganui

Somehow or other, it seems like a case for Perry Mason.

Perry who?

For the younger ones, Perry Mason was the famous television courtroom lawyer of the early 1960s, played by heavyweight actor Raymond Burr, who won everything - well, just about.

It's claimed he won 298 of 300 televised cases, losing three initially but having one turned around on appeal. All episodes were called, The Case of the ... (different final names, of course).

His new task, had he been available, could have been The Case of the Missing Cooks Gardens Goalpost Holes - or, "do we really need a goalkicker if there isn't anything to aim at..."

Last Friday, two weeks out from the start of the Heartland Rugby Championship on Cooks, the first steps were taken to place the goalposts into the recently renovated ground.

Problem? No one could find the spot where the four post holes (metal canisters with a wooden cap, two at either end) were supposed to be.

The minor reorganisation of the ground undertaken, levelling and resowing etc, and the lack of a decent new ground map, meant guessing wasn't good enough.

It seems contractors Fulton Hogan called in one type of metal detector, which proved unsuccessful. A second kind, used for looking for water connections, had been called for yesterday.

Ahead lies some five days of forecast wet weather, with lesser showers next week heading into the match with leading contender South Canterbury - so there is urgency about getting the posts up.

You find the location of the holes, you take the caps off and drop the posts in. Sounds easy.

Wanganui Rugby Union CEO Dale Cobb said: "We're trying to locate the exact locations of the holes. Everything's changed since they've laid and improved the new turf. I think the spots were marked but we've been going off some of the old markings - and things have changed.

"Fulton Hogan are providing metal detectors to help locate - that's how far we're going trying to find them.

"There were moves to put them in this week, given the weather, so we thought we'd have a look to make sure the holes were in place - yesterday (Monday), it became a little bit more urgent because it became apparent they couldn't find them."

Groundsman Stuart Milham and Wanganui District Council's Lindsay Hyde spent some time at the ground searching with prods.

"The caps are at 150mm at one end and 100mm at the other because the ground's been levelled now - they realised it needed raising at one (eastern) end."

But no luck up until yesterday afternoon.

"We've got all these tools ready to go but no goalposts to kick a goal. But we see it as just a small glitch," laughed Cobb.

Fulton and Hogan's second metal detector was due any time.

On the top side, Cobb is delighted with the ground's grass coverage - and it's been cleared by the 2011 Rugby World Cup people as being right up to scratch for next year as well.

But if they can't find those postholes?

Perry, from the grave, what can you do?